UFC BMF Jorge Masvidal appeared recently on Dan Le Batard’s “South Beach Sessions” podcast. As appears to be inevitable these days, the talk turned to politics. The two Miami natives of Cuban descent talked Donald Trump, police brutality, illegal immigration, QAnon, COVID-19, and more. The son of a Cuban exile, Masvidal’s politics generally lean right.
“This is not a conversation that I wanted to have,” said Le Batard afterward. “But for your edification, you should know that a lot of Cuban people in Miami think the way Jorge Masvidal does politically. … What you have happening in Miami right now is a weird thing where there is only one group with whom Donald Trump has improved his Q rating since 2016, and that is Cubans. I know many of you are weirded out when you see Black Lives Matter protests in Miami, and some Cubans are using the car to hit a protester, or there’s hostility around protests. Cubans think this way because Cuban history goes back to distrusting Democrats, distrusting the media.”
“If a Cuban ends up on land here, a Cuban gets to stay here. That is not the case for Haitians. It is not the case for a lot of people. And it’s enough to form your political beliefs around that freedom, because Cubans literally throw their lives to the wind, as Masvidal’s father did in order to get to that freedom. So they become one-issue voters on freedom, and they don’t trust Democrats to give them that freedom because they think Democrats are a little too close to socialism. Anyway, all of this was awkward. It’s not light. It’s not fun. … It doesn’t mean we’re gonna end this relationship, though. We could disagree about politics and still enjoy more superficial pursuit.”
Masvidal has been labeled a racist over his support for Trump, and he’s not impressed.
“What the hell? What is this country itself coming to? … People are gonna dare say I’m racist?” Said Masvidal. “You know how many times I’ve been shoved in the ground by cops and had my face on the concrete for doing absolutely nothing? Because I’ve been on this journey since I was 13 years old. And for some reason, because I have a tattoo on my neck and I’m a Latin dude, I’ve been discriminated a lot more than you would possibly think possible. I wasn’t always Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal, all of a sudden everybody knows me. No, no, no, for many years nobody knew me. When people would say I’m racist because I would pick a certain person [for President], that lets you know where this is going as a society. They’re using now that to wipe away all the good [Trump] has actually done for my community. The lowest unemployment for Latin and Black people, that gives us dignity. That gives my community dignity. People are working and making more money. The pay gaps that have happened in the middle are nice, are good. It’s numbers, it’s facts. He’s actually helping out my people. And I’m supposed to not give credit for that?
“Do I agree with all his policies? Hell no. There’s a million things that need to change, as well. But I see him doing more right in the sense of freedom and for my Latin people than a lot of other motherf***ers. And for the Black community, also the lowest Black unemployment rates. That’s huge, man. That’s huge. People are forgetting about that. Now, I don’t know everything about politics, and I don’t know everything about Trump. But when I talk to my mom, who came from a Latin American country, Peru, and she migrated over here, she tells me lots of things. And she’s not against Trump. She feels a lot of things he says are good. Some of things, she’s like, ‘I don’t like this, I don’t like that.’ But it’s not like because she likes Trump or I like Trump or something, it’s not like me and my mom stopped talking or nothing. It’s just crazy that society now is telling you if you’re a Biden fan, well then you’re Antifa or you’re something crazy, and if you’re Trump, you hate transgenders, you hate everything. Basically if you’re a Trump fan, you hate everything. And it’s crazy what society is coming out to.”
“Do I agree that there needs to be a policing of the policing? Hell yeah. And I feel that cops needs to be held accountable for their actions. If somebody’s running away, and he poses no threat, no matter what the color of that person is, you can’t take their life away. What are we talking about? How you gonna take this man’s life away that was running away. Once it got to that point, yeah, he won. Let him go. Let him go. Catch him later. You guys got technology nowadays. His car is there. I agree there’s a huge problem there, but Trump didn’t do that. This is happening in Democrat cities with Democrat governors. How is that Trump’s fault? He’s the one that pulled the trigger? That’s what I’m saying. That’s what they did in Cuba, as well, to divide the people. They’re trying to blame it all on race when this is a problem that can be addressed, that can be fixed.”
“If you’re against any minority – Asians, Arabics, Blacks, anything like that – it’s not a good thing. But what I do hear a lot that [Trump is] against is illegal immigrants. I think illegal immigrants should be treated with respect and dignity, but there has to be rules. It is a country of laws. My mom had to get permission to come here. My dad eventually got permission from the government when he touched ground here. Everybody has to follow laws. So in that regard, I think some things should change, but I’m not a politician. I can’t say what has to change. But every man, woman and child should be treated with dignity when they come to this country. Be told, ‘Hey, you can’t get in here, you got in illegally,’ or whatever it is that happens. But during that process there should be a lot of dignity, because every human deserves that whether they come from Haiti, they come from Mexico, so if there’s problems in that regard, yeah, they need to change overnight.”
In addition to having some qualms about the treatment of illegal immigrants on the border, Masvidal also argued that healthcare is a right, not a service to be purchased, or not if you cannot afford it.
“But do I believe that healthcare … there’s some things that should be fixed. If you don’t have money to afford cancer treatment for the rest of your life, yes, there should be a force that takes care of you for life, so you don’t have to worry about that because you just got dealt wrong cards. Some people are doing so good in life that, not socialism, but you know what I mean. Healthcare should be right. I can’t sit here and discuss healthcare with you. I’m not a healthcare expert. I don’t know what they have to do, but I believe it should just be something that is fair for everybody in their condition. I don’t know how that comes through. You get the smartest guys in the world to sit down and write those plans out in those regards. But in a lot of things, yeah, I am, I guess you would say, a conservative Republican or something.”